It was the same question Governor Christie is asked just about every time he meets the public or the press, but on Tuesday he gave an answer that went further – and was more personal – than he has before.

The decision to run for president, Christie told a receptive audience at a town-hall meeting in Long Branch, would come down to a decision not just about the future of his country but about the future of his family.

“People don’t understand, like these decisions are not just about could you win or could you lose or would you like the job or not if you got it,” Christie said. “Your family is unbelievably affected by this. Their lives will never be the same and so we’re thinking about it, we’ll decide. We kind of like where we are now. I love this job.”

Christie’s presidential response came when a man ended his complaint to the governor about high taxes with a plea that he run for president.

Christie started his answer by telling the story of a recent family vacation, a story he first told last week. Here, however, Christie went into much more detail and offered the audience that much more of a look into one of the main reason he might not run for president in 2016.

It was his younger daughter, Bridget, who said she was concerned that their visit to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library would make him want to run for president, Christie told the audience, echoing the version he offered to an audience in Ocean City.

But this time Christie added to the account, recalling line by line Bridget’s whispered conversation with his wife, Mary Pat, as they toured the library and museum. Christie said he was walking just in front of them and heard the exchange, in which Bridget said she doesn’t want to move, to change schools and to leave her friends. All of which she feared would happen if her father were to become president.

“If I think it’s good for me, it’s good for my family, it’s good for our state and country, then I’ll probably do it,” Christie said. “But if I don’t think it’s good for all four, then I won’t and that’s the way you make that decision. You don’t make that decision based on politics.”

It was a policy speech three years ago at the library – with an invitation from Nancy Reagan – that jump-started the first serious talk about Christie’s presidential possibilities.

Speculation that Christie is preparing to run for president has only grown this year as he travels the country campaigning and raising money for fellow Republicans in key early-voting states, including Iowa and New Hampshire. Christie is chairman of the Republican Governors Association during a year when there are 36 gubernatorial contests.

At the time of that Reagan library speech, Christie was emphatically denying that he was running for president. As he does now, Christie cited his family concerns over leaving their home in Mendham. It wasn’t until months later, when Christie endorsed Mitt Romney, who went on to become the party’s nominee in 2012, that the speculation ended.

Christie now acknowledges he is considering a run for president and has said he would make a decision after the November elections, possibly not until early next year.

He has said repeatedly that four factors would be part of his decision-making: what’s best for him, his family, New Jersey and the nation. But what made his response in Long Branch different was the level of detail he offered about his daughter’s concerns and the emotional response he drew from the crowd, who loudly responded “awww” when he told of her fears of being uprooted.

Christie has been faced with talk that he plans to run for president since he took office in 2010.

That talk has increased despite the lingering George Washington Bridge scandal and has been bolstered by his reelection victory in which he worked to attract Hispanics and other minority voters. Adding to the presidential speculation is Christie’s work as head of the governors association, where he has raised more than $60 million this year and campaigned steadily for GOP candidates, showing his party his own possible viability as a candidate.

Christie was in Long Branch for a town-hall meeting at which he continued to push for further changes to public employee pensions and health benefits.

The governor opened by talking about his efforts to address pending casino closures in Atlantic City – something hundreds of casino workers protested during his stop in Ocean City last week.

On Tuesday, Christie was welcomed by a supportive crowd, with several people saying they would like to see him run for president in 2016. He took questions for about an hour and called on only one critic, Sandy Booket, a Rumson resident who then argued with Christie over the music played before he arrived. Booket suggested that Bruce Springsteen, Christie’s musical idol, who has very different political views from the governor, had requested that his songs not be played.

“I know Bruce and I spoke to Bruce and you’re wrong,” Christie said.

Booket held a sign that read “indict” and said after she spoke to Christie that there are many reasons the governor should face charges. She didn’t specify whether her poster was tied to the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal, apparently carried out by top aides to the governor.

Unlike at similar events Christie has held at the Shore recently, there were no questions about migrants crossing the border from Mexico – a country Christie plans to visit next month – or about the partisan bickering in Washington. The governor didn’t criticize President Obama as he has in recent weeks, but he did address one issue that has captured national attention: the police response to protests and looting in Ferguson, Mo., following the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teenager. Christie was asked about the militarization of the police, with many departments using armored vehicles and carrying automatic weapons.

The governor said that media reports offer only a fraction of the story and asked the crowd to think of the victims’ parents.

“There will be plenty of time for us to examine this and to learn lessons from Ferguson as all the facts come out, not just when the TV anchor people are sitting there making a spectacle of this,” Christie said.